Teaching Forgiveness | Part 2

Oct 08

Forgiveness Is Not Natural, It’s A Discipline

Forgiveness is a significant part of any relationship, but some areas of forgiveness don’t even seem natural, especially when it’s forgiving someone who has hurt us deeply. We discussed yesterday how our example, especially in this area, is critical. What do my children see when they observe my attitudes and actions towards people who have wounded me? There are several quotes that apply here and are good for us to keep in mind. “Forgiveness is like letting a prisoner go free only to realize the prisoner was me.” And John Elderidge said, “Not forgiving a person for what they have done to you is like drinking poison expecting the other person to get poisoned.”

The Bible gives us a key in working through the process of forgiveness. 2 Corinthians 10:5 says, “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we takecaptiveeverythought to make it obedient to Christ.” So the idea is when an angry or bitter thought pops into your head you immediately dismiss it and force yourself to think of a positive, better yet to pray for the person. How we deal with the issue of forgiveness in our own lives is probably how our children will. We must be sure to model it well.